By Sharla Hallett
Have you ever tried to lead God rather than letting the Spirit lead you? I think there are times when we want to present our plan to God of how things ought to happen and have Him put His stamp of approval on it.
There is a sense of security in knowing what is going to happen next. However, living our lives with God often requires trusting Him and the way He chooses to lead us.
The first time I received a prophetic promise about my husband I was in my twenties. I met my husband when I was in my forties—twenty years of waiting for a promise to be fulfilled. I wish I could tell you that during that twenty years of waiting, I embraced the time of singleness knowing that God was at work, and I was at peace with how things would work out. But that was not always the case.
There were times when I was at peace and could trust the Lord completely, and then there were times when I would grow impatient and want to make it happen on my own. I would reason that surely God wanted me to take action. Maybe it was me He was waiting on after all. Usually those times I stepped out trying to make something happen ended in disappointment and then repentance for not allowing God to be God.
The story of Abraham and Sarah resonates with me. Their story about their covenant child begins in Genesis 15. God made a covenant with Abraham that Abraham would have an heir. In fact, God told Abraham his descendants would outnumber the stars. The problem was that Abraham and Sarah were not young and definitely not of childbearing age. It was difficult to see how this would happen.
So Sarah took matters into her own hands and convinced Abraham to have a child with her servant, Hagar. Unfortunately, this was not God’s plan, and it had very real consequences for all involved.
God reappears to Abraham in Genesis 17 and says again that Abraham is to have an heir and the heir will be through Sarah. God reestablishes His covenant with Abraham, and when Abraham is one hundred years old, his covenant child, Isaac, is born.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
God alone can see the big picture. God alone knows what is best for us.
In my story, it turns out that when I did meet my husband, it took me stepping out in faith. However, it was about God’s timing and not my own. Also, my husband had lost his first wife to cancer and had two children he and his late wife had adopted. These were unique circumstances I was stepping into. If I had not submitted to the hard but intimate season of being single, the prophetic promise God gave me would have crushed me. He knew what was best for me and what it would take to prepare me for the promise He wanted to give me.
I encourage you today, friend, to take inventory of your life. Is there any place that you have taken over and not allowed God to lead? If so, repent and allow the Lord access to that place. Trust Him. His plan will be more incredible than anything you can imagine.
Life is more rewarding when you allow the Spirit to lead.
Sharla is a wife and a mom to two beautiful adopted children. Sharla taught elementary school for twenty-three years and has now pivoted to being a stay-at-home mom, writer, and editor for UHP. She has a passion for helping women connect to their true identity in Christ. She writes regularly for her blog found at sharlahallett.com. She has also written three devotionals and is in the process of publishing her first fiction book. Instagram @shara_hallett
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